signs of summer

there are certain signs that it must be summertime around our house.  my first piece of evidence:

our living room from a different angle.  note the long string of cars!

toys, toys, everywhere.  if you know me, you'll know that i like order.  living with 3 boys seriously challenges my need (notice i said need, not want!) for order.  and even i can relax about order during the summertime!  this is a daily site in our house right now.  the boys have rediscovered their love for hotwheels.  and as you can see, we don't have very many!

hideouts.  hideouts are BIG!  they built this without any help or direction.  they are so enamored with this hideout that they begged me to have reading time in there today.  they have reading time every afternoon apart from each other for 30 minutes.  it is a nice little break for everybody.  i was a little skeptical about whether or not they could be in such close quarters without arguing for 30 whole minutes, but they surprised me and did great!  so sweet (sometimes!) these brothers!  melts a momma's heart!

and i see these little piles of discarded clothing almost every day because of this...

burrito and noodle think they just might explode or self combust if they don't get to go swimming everyday!  so we pretty much oblige!

thank you Lord for helping me to savor these sweet signs of summer.  i am loving every minute of it!